By law, USTR plays the leading role in the development of policy
on trade and trade-related investment, as well as in the coordination of the interagency process on trade
policy formulation. Under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the President established an interagency
trade policy mechanism to assist with the implementation of these responsibilities. This organization, as it
has evolved, consists of three tiers of committees: the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), the Trade
Policy Review Group (TPRG), and the National Security Council/National Economic Council (NSC/NEC).
Together, these committees constitute the principal mechanism for developing and coordinating
U.S. Government positions on international trade and trade-related investment issues.

The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 required the President to
appoint a Special Representative for Trade Negotiations and established an interagency trade organization to
make recommendations to the President on policy issues arising from trade agreements. Through this
legislation, Congress intended to better balance competing domestic and international interests in
formulating and negotiating U.S. trade policy. The new Special Trade Representative was to serve as the chief
representative for trade negotiations authorized under the Act and other trade negotiations authorized
by the President.

Through executive orders issued in 1963, President John Kennedy
created a new Office of the Special Trade Representative (STR) in the Executive Office of the
President and designated two new Deputies, one in Washington, D.C., and the other in Geneva, Switzerland.
Through the mid- 1960's, STR had the chief responsibility for U.S. participation in the Kennedy Round
of multilateral trade negotiations held under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT).

In the 1970s, the Congress substantially expanded the
responsibilities of STR. Section 141 of the Trade Act of 1974 provided a legislative charter for STR as part of the
Executive Office of the President and made it responsible for the trade agreements programs under the
Tariff Act of 1930, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and the Trade Act of 1974. The 1974 Act also made STR
directly accountable to both the President and the Congress for these and other trade
responsibilities. Through Executive Order 11846, President Ford elevated the Special Trade Representative to
cabinet level.

Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1979 consolidated and further
broadened STR’s responsibilities. The 1979 reorganization and Executive Order 12188 of the next year renamed
STR as the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), centralized U.S. Government
policy-making and negotiating functions for international trade, and greatly expanded USTR. These changes:

Assigned overall responsibility to USTR for developing and
coordinating the implementation of U.S. trade policy;

Designated the Trade Representative as the principal advisor to,
and chief spokesperson for, the President on trade agreements and trade policy, and as advisor on
the impact of international trade on other U.S. Government policies;

Made USTR responsible for asserting and protecting “the rights
of the United

States under all bilateral and multilateral international trade and commodity
agreements.” This responsibility is exercised in conjunction with the Department of Commerce, which
monitors “compliance with international trade agreements to which the United States is a
party.”

Made the Trade Representative the Vice Chairman of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a non-voting member of the Export-Import Bank
Board of Directors, and a member of the National Advisory Committee on International
Monetary and Financial Policies;

Made USTR responsible for developing and coordinating trade in
services; and

Made USTR responsible for direct investment matters.

A separate
memorandum of understanding between USTR and the Department of State spells out specific
responsibilities for the two agencies in the OECD, UNCTAD and other multilateral and bilateral
activities. The Department of State serves as chief representative to the OECD Committee on
Investment and Multilateral Enterprises and its subgroups (except for the subgroup on National
Treatment), including the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s authority was again enhanced
through the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Section 1601 of the 1988 legislation
codified the status and responsibilities of USTR previously established through Reorganization Plan No. 3
and Executive Order 12188. In so doing, the legislation reinforced the Congressional-Executive
Partnership for the conduct of U.S. trade policy. Among those enumerated responsibilities were:

To have primary responsibility for developing and coordinating
the implementation of U.S. international trade policy;

To serve as the principal advisor to the President on
international trade policy and advise the President on the impact of other U.S. Government policies on
international trade;

To have lead responsibility for the conduct of, and be chief
U.S. representative for, international trade negotiations, including commodity and direct investment
negotiations;

To coordinate trade policy with other agencies;

To act as the principal international trade policy spokesperson
of the President;

To report and be responsible to the President and the Congress
on the administration of the trade agreements program, and to advise on non-tariff barriers,
international commodity agreements, and other matters relating to the trade agreements program;
and

To be Chairman of the Trade Policy Committee.

The 1988 legislation also included a Sense of the Congress
statement that the USTR should be the senior representative on any body the President establishes to advise him
on overall economic policies in which international trade matters predominate and that the USTR should
be included in all economic summits and other international meetings in which international trade is a
major topic. Finally, this legislation further elevated the importance of USTR in trade matters by
shifting to USTR the Presidential responsibility for implementing actions under Section 301, subject
to specific direction, if any, from the President.

The Uruguay Round Agreements Act, enacted in 1994, specifies that
USTR has lead responsibility for all negotiations under the auspices of the WTO. The conclusion of such
major comprehensive trade agreements as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
the WTO Agreement has vastly expanded USTR’s responsibility for implementation and
enforcement.

The Trade and Development Act of 2000 created within USTR the
positions of Chief Agricultural Negotiator and Assistant United States Trade Representative for
African Affairs. The principal function of the Chief Agricultural Negotiator is to conduct trade negotiations
and enforce trade agreements relating to United States agricultural interests and products. The Assistant
United States Trade Representative for African Affairs serves as the chief advisor to the U.S. Trade
Representative on issues of trade and investment with Africa and serves as coordinator and point of
contact within the Administration on such issues.